Upon hearing Gismonda’s and, Smoker froze.

  What is this nonsehey're saying?!

  Any pirate with a brain would tack a gover ship.

  Does this mean he has to ighe Fang Pirate Crew?

  His rades were fighting hard out there! And there were thousands of civilians on Pumiso Isnd!

  "I won’t accept this!" Smoker’s face darkened.

  "The best way to protect is to attack. If pirates were to get he World Nobles, wouldn’t that be a huge failure for the Navy?!"

  Gismonda replied coldly, "This is not something you should worry about, Navy. You’re overstepping your boundaries!"

  Maha added, "The Navy is merely the Wover’s force. You don’t o think, just obey orders!"

  A cold glint fshed in Smoker’s eyes.

  It was just the two of them now.

  Maybe...

  Suddenly, Smoker sensed a rge and familiar presence.

  "Zephyr-sensei?!"

  Zephyr had used his Mooo arrive in a fsh.

  Without wasting a sed, he nded on the ded hurried toward the group.

  "What’s going on? What are you doing?!!"

  The temosphere had clearly reached him.

  "It’s nothing, Zephyr-sensei..." Smoker replied quickly, a brief expnation of the situation.

  He also subtly mentiohe situation on Pumiso Isnd.

  Zephyr’s expression shifted when he heard it.

  He had told Smoker to cooperate with CP, but he didn’t expect things to bee this urgent.

  Zephyr was known as the "Non-Killer" Admiral. If he treated pirates like this, how would he hahe thousands of civilians and his students?

  Without hesitation, Zephyr turo the CP agents and said, "Smoker is right. Any threat to the Celestial Dragons o be eliminated in advance. If your superiors are unhappy, tell them to e to me directly!"

  Gismonda and Maha hesitated, exging gnces, but relutly agreed ao report back to their superiors.

  The Navy answered to the Wover, but when it came to Admirals, things were different.

  Even CP leaders ranked lower than Zephyr had no authority over him.

  Zephyr’s intervention gave Smoker some relief and allowed him to save fa the situation.

  If it had been Garp instead, who knew what might have happened...

  After dealing with the CP agents, Zephyr Smoker.

  Smoker quickly ordered full speed ahead, feeling a little lighter.

  But just when it seemed like things were settling, both Gismonda and Zephyr’s transponder snails rang simultaneously.

  They both paused, finding quiet ers to take the calls.

  Ohey hung up, Gismonda’s expression was cealed by her mask, but Zephyr’s face was grim.

  Smoker rushed over. "Zephyr-sensei, what happened?!"

  Zephyr’s face darkened. "That was Admiral Kong’s call..."

  Smoker’s chest tightened with a bad premonition.

  Zephyr gritted his teeth. "The Celestial Dragons themselves have ordered our ship to escort them..."

  Smoker’s face turned pale.

  If it had been a Wover official, Zephyr could have argued, and even if it led to a fight, it would have been just a work dispute.

  But when the Celestial Dragons gave an order, defying them was crossing a line...

  Zephyr spped Smoker’s shoulder and said, his voice softer now, "Just follow orders."

  "Uood..."

  The warship sped up.

  But instead of chasing pirates, it was now following the Celestial Dragons' ship.

  In the and room, Smoker and Zephyr sat fag each other.

  The table iled with cigars and fine liquor, but nothi satisfying.

  As for the two CP agents, Smoker no longer bothered to aodate them, shoving them into another room.

  With Zephyr there, they didn’t dare cause trouble.

  Smoker sent a message to Ault, but all he received was a brief "Got it" before the li dead.

  "Zephyr-sensei... why?"

  When Smoker used to wate Piece, he thought the Celestial Dragons were eous. But now, experieng the reality firsthand, he was struggling to accept it.

  One word from them, and he had to abandon the safety of thousands of people just to "escort" them.

  Zephyr gulped down his drink.

  “There’s nothing we do. The Celestial Dragons’ orders are the w. They ot be defied…”

  Smoker shot him a deep, questioning look.

  Zephyr sighed and tinued. “Actually, we could defy the orders if we really wao…”

  “But the sequences would be even worse!”

  Smoker’s eyes widened in shock. “What sequences? Are you talking about punishment for us?!”

  Zephyr shook his head. “Who cares about that…”

  He leaned forward, his voice low but grave. “You know, our military funding es from the Wover’s taxes. It’s basically gold from the heavens. When the ons fire, it’s like the gover hands over a mountain of gold…”

  Smoker’s fusion deepened, but Zephyr pressed on.

  “Without the Wover’s financial support, the Navy wouldn’t even st a year. And it’s not just a fixed amount—this funding is adjustable, based ouation. The most important factor is how we treat the Celestial Dragons…”

  “Zephyr-sensei…”

  Smoker interrupted, sensing the gravity of the situation. "Is the Navy really just going to let them choke us like this? Don’t we have the means to make our own money?!"

  The Navy trolled the stro military for the seas; making money should be easy.

  Zephyr looked at Smoker seriously.

  “Never mention this again…”

  “After I became an Admiral, I realized this system wasn’t right for the Navy. I wao find other ways to raise military funds, but you should know how that ended…”

  “How did it end?”

  Smoker froze, then was horrified.

  Could it be that Zephyr’s wife and child were the ones who were killed?

  Smoker had always been puzzled about how an Admiral’s family could be murdered at Navy HQ.

  It wasn’t during a rge-scale attack; they were targeted directly.

  And they succeeded.

  It was simply unbelievable.

  There must have been some truly powerful pirates behind it—pirates so formidable that even Roger or Whitebeard would have had to pay their respects.

  Turns out, it was the work of the Wover…

  Seeing that Smoker uood, Zephyr took another sip of his drink.

  “It was after this ihat I realized—the Wover doesn’t want a powerful Navy, they want a subservient one.”

  “Sadly, I figured this out too te…”

  Smoker frowned. “Didn’t you… think about getting revenge?!”

  “Revenge…” Zephyr smiled bitterly and shook his head.

  “How could I get revenge? Demand justice? Pretend to obey while undermining them? Or just march straight to the Red Line?!”

  “No matter how we do it, it would drain the Navy’s strength, and in the end, it’s the i civilians who would pay the price.”

  “That’s why, even though I resigned as Admiral, I still stay to train the new recruits. Because I ’t just leave it all behind!!”

  Smoker furrowed his brow.

  Wasn’t this like holding a gun to the good guys?

  If it were Garp...

  Well, no matter who it was, it wouldn’t ge things.

  Garp, Sengoku, Zephyr, e…

  No matter their personalities, their feelings for the Navy were the same.

  None of them would sacrifice the Navy’s strength for their personal gain.

  The Wover khis and used it to their advantage, which made them even more reckless.

  Zephyr exhaled deeply.

  “Back to the main point.”

  “If we defy the Celestial Dragons this time, the Wover will use that as an excuse to ilitary funding, which would force the Navy to reduce its forces.”

  “By then, the threat won’t just be Pumiso Isnd.”

  Smoker nodded. “I uand…”

  Though he said this, in his mind, there was still one key issue he couldn’t bring himself to voice.

  In his mind, the Celestial Dragons were like the feudal lords in Naruto—foolish and rich.

  Logically, these people should be easy to take down.

  But whether it was the Navy or the Ninjas, no one dared to touch them… or even think about it.

  If it were Smoker…

  The Navy has men and ons, what’s stopping them?

  Even if they feared the Five Elders or the Guardians, they could still find other ways.

  The simplest one being:

  If they dare to withhold my money, I’ll seal off your seas. See how you grow food on the Red Line.

  But these were just Smoker’s thoughts, things he couldn’t say out lht now…

  Just then, a Marine knocked on the door.

  “Zephyr Admiral, Smoker el, we’re nearing the Celestial Dragons’ ship!”

  “Got it,” Zephyr replied.

  Void996